The High Tide Club

“Oh, Varina!” Josephine had exclaimed. “Turn around. Let me see!”

The soles of the shoes were slippery, so Varina did a slow pirouette, her arms poked stiffly out from her sides.

“You look so pretty,” Ruth said, touching the sleeve of the silk dress. “Jo, this color is perfect for her. And what a cute figure you have too.” She caught Varina’s hand in hers. “Come on, let’s show Millie how beautiful you look for her party.”

Varina glanced at the grandfather clock in the hallway. “I have to get back downstairs. Mrs. Dorris needs me.”

“If Dorris fusses, you just tell her I needed you upstairs for a few minutes,” Josephine said.

Josephine rapped lightly on Millie’s door. “Come on out, bride-to-be,” she called gaily. “We have a surprise for you.”

Millie opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Her blond hair was tied up in soft rag curlers, and she still wore a bathrobe. There were dark circles under her eyes, but when she caught sight of Varina, her face lit up with a smile.

“Who is this gorgeous creature?” Millie asked.

“It’s me,” Varina said, suddenly shy.

“And I’m furious at her, because she is much prettier than all three of us put together,” Josephine teased. “No boy at this party will want to dance with us after they see Varina.”

Varina blushed furiously. “Y’all know I can’t really come to the party. Mrs. Dorris only let me come upstairs to see y’all for a minute. She says I got to get back and change out of this dress and shoes so I can work.”

“Well, I think I’m just going to sneak you downstairs and into the ballroom for a few minutes so that Papa and Gardiner can see how nice you look,” Josephine said.

“Oh no,” Varina said quickly.

“Varina’s right, Jo,” Ruth said. “We don’t want to get her in trouble.”

Millie gave the girl a quick hug. “Go on back downstairs, then, Cinderella. Before your coach turns into a pumpkin.”

“Huh?” Varina gave her a puzzled look.

“Don’t tell me you never read the fairy tale about Cinderella and her wicked stepsisters,” Ruth said. “With the pumpkin that turned into a coach?”

“And the rats that turned into coachmen, or were they footmen?” Millie asked.

Varina looked from one of the girls to the other. “Are y’all my wicked stepsisters?”

The girls all laughed.

“No, silly girl,” Josephine said. “We’re more like your fairy godmothers.”

“Okay,” Varina said. “I’d better go back now, before Mrs. Dorris comes looking for me.”

“Wait just a minute, Varina,” Millie said. She darted into the bedroom and came back a moment later.

“Josephine gave you this dress, and Ruth gave you the shoes. Now I want you to have something from me. Mama gave me this pearl pin for my sixteenth birthday. You’re almost sixteen, aren’t you?”

“Not for another year and a half,” Varina said. “But I can’t take this, Miss Millie. This must’ve cost a lot of money.”

“It really didn’t,” Millie said, fastening the pin to the collar of Varina’s dress. “Anyway, it’s a gift. And it’s bad manners not to accept a gift from a friend, isn’t it, girls?”

“It certainly is,” Ruth said solemnly.

* * *

It was ten o’clock before she’d worked her way through the mountains of dirty glasses and plates. Finally, Mrs. Dorris took the dishtowel from Varina’s hand.

“Go on home now, girl. Those fancy waiters can finish up in here once the party’s over.” She fished in the pocket of her apron and handed Varina two crisp dollar bills. “Miss Josephine said this was to be your pay for tonight. I told her that’s way too much, but she insisted.”

Varina stared down at the dollars. “You sure?”

“I’m sure,” Mrs. Dorris said. She peered out the back door. “It’s mighty dark out there. Is one of your brothers coming over to walk you home?”

“No, ma’am,” Varina said, untying her apron. “It’s not that dark. There’s a full moon tonight, and anyway, I could walk to Oyster Bluff with my eyes closed.” She headed for the broom closet, where she changed out of the ugly housedress and back into her own beautiful dress.

“Girl!” Mrs. Dorris was laughing at her. “You are bound and determined to wear that dress tonight, aren’t you?”

“It’s the prettiest thing I ever owned,” Varina said.

“Well, I can’t say I blame you. If I were as young and skinny as you, I guess I’d do the same thing. Just be careful and don’t get nothin’ on it. That’s real silk, you know.”

* * *

Varina knew she should have gone right home, but she just wanted to get one more peek at the party before it was all over. She cut around the side of the house and positioned herself at the edge of the veranda behind a tall camellia bush. The french doors were open, and when she poked her head around the camellia, she caught glimpses of ladies in their beautiful party dresses and the men in their stylish white dinner jackets. She closed her eyes and hummed a little of the song the orchestra was playing. Josephine brought a record of the song when she came down from Boston, and she said it was called “Moonlight Serenade.” She and the girls played it all the time in the days before the party, and they’d even shown Varina how to do a dance called the foxtrot.

At one point, she thought she saw Josephine dance past the doors with a short, stout man with a shock of gray hair, who looked like Mr. Bettendorf. She saw Ruth too, beautiful in a seafoam-green dress with white flowers tucked into her shining red hair.

Suddenly, a huge man in a white dinner jacket burst through the french doors. He had a woman by the arm, dragging her along like a puppy on a short rope.

It was Millie! She recognized the dress, and then a moment later, Millie’s voice.

“Russell, stop. Let go. You’re hurting me.”

Russell. That was the man Millie was fixing to marry. Josephine said he was richer than King Midas. It looked to Varina like they were fighting.

They stopped for a moment, just a few feet away. Varina shrank back behind the bush and held her breath, certain they would see her there.

They were talking now, but their voices were lower, and she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She heard Millie’s soft laugh and relaxed a little.

Now the man was on the move again, and he was dragging Millie after him. They went a little ways down the walkway, out of sight and earshot. Curious, Varina slipped out from the bush and tiptoed down the walkway, being sure to stay in the shadows.

The moon was so bright that night, she was afraid she’d be seen, but she darted across the cobblestone walk and crept closer.

Millie was crying! Varina tensed. She ducked behind a huge ball-shaped bush and craned her neck to try to see.

The crying was coming from beneath the deep shade of the big old magnolia tree that towered over that part of the garden. Varina could see the white of Russell’s dinner jacket, but not much more.

“No! Stop it!” Millie cried. It sounded like he was hurting her. Varina took a deep breath. She had to do something to stop that man. She took a step sideways but then heard footsteps coming from the direction of the veranda, and she slunk back to her hiding place.